Buildings account for one third of the country's total primary energy consumption, including two-thirds of the electricity consumption, and one third of the natural gas consumption. Consequently, our nation's buildings are responsible for 35% of carbon dioxide emissions. Manufacturers of HVAC equipment are seeking performance improvements to gain market share. This invention fulfills many attributes for residential and commercial heating and cooling technologies over the next 50 years. It will significantly reduce primary energy consumption, will enable substantially higher performance, will use off-the-shelf components, and will reduce emissions due to lower energy consumption. HVAC industry is eager to license enabling technology.
This invention teaches a Super Energy Saver Heat Pump built by coupling existing heat pumps with a broad class of hybrid PCMs that allow greater exchange of energy with the environment to enable space conditioning at higher efficiency compared to current HVAC systems. The PCMs include materials that undergo solid to liquid as well as liquid to vapor phase transitions, soaking up huge amounts of energy per unit quantity (weight) of PCM. The well known state-of-the-art inorganic salt hydrates have low thermal energy storage capacity typically in the range of 170-308 kJ/kg and are limited to certain discrete temperatures which are difficult to match with existing heat pump cycle temperatures. The PCM in the subject invention has a storage capacity that is up to 10 times greater than inorganic salt hydrates alone and is not restricted to operate at discrete temperatures. The ability of the PCM to exchange energy with the surroundings is attributed to its intrinsic propensity for water. These PCMs are made of a solid adsorbent and hygroscopic materials or a suitable hydrophilic substance. The method of incorporation and coupling these hybrid PCM devices with a heat pump and with the environment is the basis of the invention.